38 Responses

So, if I walk into a store and steel a bag of chips I face a shoplifting charge.

If I cheat on my taxes I face an IRS audit, penalties, and possible jail time.

But, If I head a Fortune 500 company that systematically creates a series mathematical formulas (derivatives) to offset any risk to myself for selling something to others I know to be worthless (thereby profiting) and betting it will tank (thereby profiting again), I may have to forgo my afternoon lunches at Nobu for a week? This is why the old addage that most of our mothers taught us that “cheaters never win” does not apply anymore.

Under Roosevelt, if you were in business partnership with someone committing fraud, you as a partner were held just as financial liable for the payment of restitution. Read up on the case of Richard Whitney from the 1930s. He played fast and loose and had he and his partners assets liquidated to pay back debts, he spent 10 years in jail, and ended his days as a dairy farmer on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Then, you pulled this kind of crap, you didn’t get a slap on the wrist or the opportunity to remake yourself and come back again. In effect, you were ostracized. When Reagan pushed to remove those types of regulations that acted a true deterrents to this kind of crap, we have seen what the last 33 years have wrought.

“Godfather of Pizza #999” has a job at Fox news. Another guy who already worked for Fox is hired by them. These people were already clearly on the payroll over there for years, they are just making it official.

“I’ll bet you 10 to 1 nobody at Goldman Sachs donated to her campaign.”
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But they donated to Barry’s campaign and that’s the one the counts. A big payback for Goldman was when, just before the Nov. election, the DOJ said there was no case against Goldman Sachs and John Paulson for securities fraud. This was after the SEC and US Senate committee spent nearly a year documenting the fraud.

Nes I so agree. Everyone bashes FOX but in truth they are the only right leaning news station. Thank heavens they are there. At least I can get something other then all left angle. Fact is the local news here seems to stay in the middle and it is the one I watch but I love the fact I can get the rights prospective as well as the left. Now if we could get a middle of the road once again it would be awesome but in truth I would and do watch FOX when I need to keep up on something. CNN and MSNBC are not even played in this house. I despise them.

Yep, they lean right. No they don’t. They jump over the far right cliff 24/7 as a lying filthy deceptive blowhard bullshit storm. That doesn’t make msnbo any better, of course. Two wrongs do not make one right.

I understand Warrens point, but I disagree that a trial is necessary to adequately enforce laws or to air the facts to the public. As she acknowledges, going to trial is costly and time-consuming, so the only benefit is to have public testimony and drama. And there is no guarantee that a judge would come down on the side of the US Attorney. Additionally, we cannot assume that the government’s cases are airtight and would result in guilty verdicts based on evidence presented. So, getting a plea deal or settelment is sometimes the best hope for any type of justice. With that said, the facts should be made public and one only has to file an FIOA request.

It is notablke that the woman who answered some of the question stated that additional enforcement authority was requested by her agency. That’s what should be addressed by Congress. Tougher penalties under the law. And, let’s give regulators more money for enforcement of consumer laws, so they can more thoroughly investigate and bring criminal charges, as opposed to civil settlements. It’s also costly and time-consuming to develop a criminal case. She’s a lawyer and should know the answer to her own question. If she thinks the agency heads are going soft on the regulated industry, she should say it and prove it. She should say which cases should have gone to trail and based on what evidence.

I can’t stand any of the US news outlets. They are all rude and talk at the same time and act like imbeciles. I pity generations who will not remember when news people delivered the news instead of pulling opinions out of their butt and expecting that to pass as information.

And NES and Utah, you can knock yourselves out on Hannity and Company all you like, it is a free world. It is just my very strong opinion that they viciously attack all that is good in this world, including Hillary and before her Bill – non-stop for decades. Bastards all.

I hated the obama team at msnbc too and long ago banned nbc due to its selling Hillary nutcrackers in its airport stores, etc.

I watch Hannity sometimes and I used to watch GlennBeck. I feel obligated to know what the asses are saying. But, I flip between CNN and FOX, just to be fair and balanced. And I never watch MSNBC because of the comments made about Hillary and Chelsea in 2008. They are dead to me.

In the aftermath of the election I read this piece, and it just came to mind today due to our conversation. In retrospect he was only wrong about them getting rid of Morris. Long overdue. And who would have thunk they’d ax SP? But they did to their credit. They brought in Perry and Cain and sorry, but those two buffoons had even the Right laughing at their blunders and buffoonery. Run by crackpots with an agenda.

Hugo, Glenn Beck was a great example of what is wrong with this country. Ignorance and gullibility abounds. I know people who bought everyword he said and even went out and paid a fortune to invest in his gold advertising scam too. Sadly. They aren’t the sharpest pencils in the cup and they often repeat, word for word, what they heard on Fox.

The Salon article mentions beck leaving.

The whole reason they were “so called fair” to Hillary in 08 was to destroy the democrats. Their plan didn’t work, but there is a ton of evidence that they tried to keep the bloody battle going – pitching whatever they had to toss out to keep Hillary and obama tearing each other down saved the GOP money not having to have their candidates do so. Also, they pushed all the most destructive stuff when they could.

As Upps often points out, they acted all nicey to the PUMAs only as long as they needed to try to lure us to the dark side.

The thing about Beck was that he appeared to be doing all this research into obama and his cronies on his own, but it was all stuff I had already read elsewhere in the internet. Beck was just a big old googler. In the beginning, some of the stuff he reported was true, but he just got nuttier and nuttier and ready for his padded cell. FOX can’t pretend to be in the mainstream and keep giving nuts a platform.

Prior to 2008, I only watched CNN, but did go over to FOX because they were the only ones not gushing over obama. I knew they were only being civil to her because they considered her the lesser of the two evils. Never going to forget the lessons of ’08.

I loooove Elizabeth Warren! I’m hoping she’ll be the second woman President. Karen, agree, Fux U News are liars and scamsters, all the way. The only time I will watch them is when I see Stewart or Colbert ripping them a new one. Colbert did a funny piece recently about Glenn Beck and the freaky rite wing nutso community he is designing. For people who love “Freedom”. But of course there’s a caveat…the freedom you get is what Beck wants people to have. These freaks are really unbelievable.

Karen, loved the vid! We’ve been surrounded by lots of dolphins in small boats over the years, even a zodiac where we got to pet them, but I’ve never tried wake boarding like that in the ocean. That woman was amazing.

As for FOX and MSNBC, neither is news. They say what they want to to be true, what their audience wants to hear and more importantly, what their sponsors pay them to say. MSNBC did this most egregiously during the primaries of 2008 and FOX during the election of 2012. FOX’s unwillingness to report all of the news made them a laughingstock on election night as they and their viewers were in a state of shock over how the race was really going.

It sucks because I want right-leaning AND left-leaning news. The way they’re supposed to do it is to report the facts (all of them) and then give their opinion, if their contract allows it. Both of these stations report their opinions as fact and leave out the parts they don’t like and can’t spin. FOX has raised it to an art form, but again, it bit them in the ass. I can’t wait until Lawrence O’Donnell gets his.

Years ago, CNN had Crossfire, which was really good for awhile. I couldn’t stand Sununu’s opinions, but I respected that he followed the rules. Jon Stewart took down Crossfire by pointing out that they had deteriorated into being jerks who yelled talking points at each other without doing any public service,

I understand, Sophie. Many big defendants just consider paying our settlements part of the cost of doing business. But, I don’t support the idea that bank regulators should be “embarrassed” by her questions. They are not the questions she should be asking, IMO. She should be asking what are the obstacles in bringing cases to Court and what additional authority is needed.

Also, it’s not up to the regulators whether they get cases into the court room. Some judges will hold up trials and encourage mediation and settlements.

I don’t know that I LOVE Warren. I think she’s a bit too far left on somethings. But I loved the question she asked and kept hammering in that video. I do respect her intelligence as well, and her feelings about Goldman Sachs ilk reflect my own. I just am not so sure I am going to agree with her all that often on other things. Time will tell.

Well, instead of hammering when was the last time you took a defendant to trial, she should be asking why are you not bringing criminal cases against individuals and institutions that break financial laws and cause significant harm to the economy. Number of trials means nothing. Pursuing criminal cases and getting guilty pleas and significant penalties is meaningful.

Forgive me. I spent a big chunk of time as a regulator, so I’m viewing her questions from that perspective. It’s not as easy as she may think it is, so I just see her question as not useful.

With that said, I do think her strong consumer protection advocacy is important and I totally support tough enforcement and tougher enforcement tools for regulators.

OT but Dorner died of one bullet to the head. Self inflicted to be sure. That was that one shot they heard, probably.

THere is admittedly something that bothered me about all this. At first they claimed his wallet was found near the Mexican border. I figured that once they found him holed up in that cabin that he might have left that wallet there to throw them off. He was, after all, well trained.

But then, they claimed they found his license on his charred body. First thought i had was, wouldn’t that have been in his wallet at the border to identify whose wallet it was?

Second thought was how the Eff did a driver’s license remain intact and on top of a charred body in a completely burned down building that was so hot they couldn’t go near it till the next day?

Going to trial is costly and time consuming for all trials. The TBTF banks should have to face trial just like any Joe or Jane Blow would. The fines mean nothing. Some jail time might make an impression. No one should be above the law. I remember Uppity had a post about a chicken farmer who was constantly just slapped with fines for his filthy farms. Then his little salmonella factory ended up causing millions of eggs to be recalled. Obviously the fines did nothing to stop him from poisoning more people.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt often visited his cottage at Warm Springs, Ga., alone; wife, Eleanor, didn’t much care for the place or the Southern atmosphere. Roosevelt was at Warm Springs, on his own, when he died in April 1945.

imust, I understand the frustration and I agree that fines mean nothing to the high rollers. But it’s just not as simple as saying we are going to charge you with a crime and put you on trial and you have no say in the matter. The Courts require attempts at pre-trial settlement. The Defendants have Constitutional rights and bigass lawyers to ensure they get their rights. As for the little guys being taken to trial, that’s kind of not the complete truth. Those Defendants get the same treatment under the law. They can choose to settle, so going to trial may be their choice. They are entitled to a trial. Most high rollers choose tosettle so they can avoid publicity and a blackeye for their brand. It’s worth the money to stay out of the press.

Regarding the chicken guy, there are people who are scofflaws and it does take time to get them onto compliance voluntarily or bring a legal case. Multiple fines are part of trying to get voluntary compliance and also serve as evidence that he was warned multiple times to clean up and did not, so the next steps are judicial–criminal and/or civil. One violation is not going to go to court or even necessarily get a fine.

I think it’s important for the public to be aware that there are rules that agencies must follow and Congress and the Judicial Branch are responsible for those rules. Fix the rules if they are not adequate to protect the public from greedy scofflaws. And ensure that political appointees do not interfere with law enforcement. Forget the numbers of trials. Who’s obstructing is a far more interesting question.

Survey Says: Fox News Viewers Least Informed.
A new study by the Pew Research Study shows that viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have the highest knowledge of national and international affairs, while Fox News viewers rank nearly dead last.

Didn’t really take a survey to prove that just talk to a Fox News viewer.
Anyone that says all the other media outlets lean left, are misinformed Fox Viewers. 7 Corporations own 96% of all Media outlets. We hear what they want us to hear. This faux left vs right battle keeps us separated and unable to focus our energies for the good of civilization and people and lets corrupt politicians and corporations win while we lose every time.

Doubts around on the conclusions of that survey: Daily/Colbert decidedly spins the stuff, though amusing. I discern between Fox News and the primetime. Megyn Kelly, Brett Baier, Neil Cavuto, Jennifer Griffin all deliver solid coverage with integrity. But just for balance, I begin my day with the BBC World News. As for trials, we learned from John Dean’s testimony during Watergate that the exercise of a trial will take them off their “game-the-system” game and force them through the heat. Depositions can, indeed, unearth useful information in the hands of a skilled, focused questioner. The motivation of the mother of all paydays becomes a real opportunity when in the rink with the guys running this game once tables are turned. Too smug in their self-assurance, the very idea that Wall Streeters would be subjected to the circus of a {{gasp}} trial would be a new day for them. Those drunks hanging off the Street Lamp Posts would have a FIELD Day with the wag. They’re even MORE hilarious than Stewart and Colbert. Trust me, a trial would be WELL worth the investment. We’d all have eyes on the slime that spun the bogus earnings from sleaze – might be enlightening to have a look under the hood of that machinery. Let’s just remind ourselves how the Summer of O.J. made us all court watchers…Watergate made GREAT TV. And since when did these guys worry about spending?